


The Mercenary and the Machinist

by GhostKiller



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy, Titanfall (Video Games)
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Interspecies Romance, Interspecies Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-07-25 19:20:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16204004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostKiller/pseuds/GhostKiller
Summary: What if Viper never truly did die that day on the Draconis, but was sent to the Mass Effect Universe.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Mass Effect or Titanfall, only the material I create and my OC

Chapter 1: Prologue

 

Darkness. That was all Viper saw after he got shot at by the Militia pilot who had killed three of his fellow mercenary squad mates. This made him angry; how could a fresh Militia pilot kill a more experienced pilot like himself. He had a knack for escaping death, but death finally caught up to him this time. Just as he was about to accept the void with open arms, he saw a bright light. Unsure of what to do, Viper began to walk towards the light with hopes of not being dead. But as he got closer, the light became increasingly more bright, and had to shield his eyes in order not to go blind.

With every step, the light became brighter, but that wouldn’t stop Viper. He was determined to get out of the void and return to the land of the living. Finally the Light became so bright, it engulf him and his vision blacked out, not knowing that he made a decision that would change his life forever.

\-------

When he came around, Viper realized he wasn’t on Typhon anymore. What made him think this; the obvious factor that he couldn’t find Typhon’s broken moon in the sky. He slowly began to sit, for his body ached from being shot in the chest multiple times by the damn pilot. But to Viper, soreness was good, it just meant he was alive. He slowly got to his feet and began to survey his surroundings. He saw various chunks of hull from the IMS Draconis. He spotted his weapons a few meters away from him and began making his way to them. His weapons were the C.A.R submachine gun, the D2 Double Take sniper rifle, and the Mk. 6 Smart Pistol, which was a gift from his mother when she gave it to him on his 16th birthday. After he had secured his weapons, Viper heard electricity crackle to his left and gasped when he saw his heavily modified Northstar class Titan, VD-6834, laying on the ground.

“VD, are you alright!” Viper yelled as he ran up to his Titan.

VD didn’t respond by the time he reached her. Viper sighed as he hoisted himself on top of VD’s hatch and pried it open. He lowered himself into the cockpit and sat down as the hatch began to close. He began to start fiddling around with the controls in hopes of getting VD online, which made him smile internally when he heard her voice.

“P-PILOT, IS THAT YOU?” A soft electronic female voice asked the person in question.

“Don’t worry VD, it’s me,” Viper responded.

“PILOT, I NEED TO REESTABLISH THE NEURAL LINK”

Before he could protest, VD had started to reestablish the neural link between herself and her pilot. And to Viper, it stung like a bitch.

“PROTOCOL 1: LINK TO PILOT”

“PROTOCOL 2: UPHOLD THE MISSION; THERE IS NO CURRENT MISSION PARAMETERS”

“PROTOCOL 3: PROTECT THE PILOT; LIEUTENANT, WHAT IS OUR CURRENT MISSION”

Viper was about to suggest getting to the nearest IMC facility, but then saw the weirdest shaped drop ship he had ever seen coming down. He moved VD behind some trees, not taking any chances if they were Militia. But to Viper’s surprise, aliens exited the ship. One of the aliens look to resemble a salamander, another appeared to be a blue woman with squid-like tentacles that protruded from the back of the head resembling hair, and the third, much to his relief, was human; all wearing golden armor that has a black sun on the chest and appeared to be hostile.

“VD, stay here and do not engage,” He instructed as he exited VD, “Shoot the drop ship if they try to escape.”

Slowly, like a predator stalking his prey, he made his way towards the group. Just as Viper entered the clearing, he activated his cloaking and broke out into a sprint to the group with his Data Knife in hand. This was gonna be a _long_ day.


	2. Contact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the mission on Horizon, The Illusive Man has another assignment for Shepard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some material in this chapter is non-canon, so I'll leave it to you to figure it out. And as I said before, I do not own Mass Effect or Titanfall, only the material I create and my OC

Chapter 2: Contact

 

Commander Shepard was having a pretty bad day. He had been reunited with his friend Ashley on Horizon, only to lash out at him for working with Cerberus. And if to make matters worse, The Illusive Man has asked to speak with him. When he entered the communication room, The Illusive Man was already there in his holograph form, puffing away at a cigarette.

“Excellent work on Horizon, Shepard, that will make the Collectors think again about attacking another human colony in the Terminus System,” The Illusive Man said as he took a long drag from his cigarette.

“I wouldn’t celebrate just yet, half the colonist on the planet had been taken by those damn bugs. You still need to find away for me to hit them for once. I’m tired of them like they are ghosts,” Shepard responded, irritation in his voice.

“Your team will need to be strong Shepard, while I am aware that you will not completely trust me, I want to stop the Collectors as much as you.”

Shepard sighed, he knew The Illusive Man was right and would have to listen to him until the Collectors have been stopped.

“As soon as you have assembled more people that are willing to fight the Collectors and as soon as we find a way through the Omega 4 relay, we will hit them with the best team this galaxy has ever seen,” The Illusive Man continued, “I’m still working on the next set of dossiers for your team, but right now I have a mission for you, one that I can assure you has no meddling on my part.”

“If your being honest this time, alright. What's this mission you have for us; were still orbiting Horizon, so it may be awhile before we reach our destination,” Shepard stated.

“That won’t be a problem Shepard, the location is in the Alpha Draconis system, part of the Rosette Nebula. It's only one mass relay jump from the system. The Alpha Draconis system is a few hours out of the mass relay there, so it shouldn’t be any trouble. You’ll need to land on the planet Aeia and search the site. EDI already has the coordinates.”

“You still need to tell me what I’m looking for. Or you don’t know.”

“I thought by now you’d know I don’t jump into situations I am unfamiliar with. But for once, your arrogance is right. An hour ago, an Alliance patrol detected an unusual large energy spike on the planet surface. The patrol ship itself doesn’t have any orbital vehicle, so they had to mark the area for another craft to investigate. The frigate assigned will arrive in six hours.”

“The energy spike was far too large for any pirate or mercenary activity; and the planet itself has low element zero readings. I want you and your team to land at that site and report anything noticeable.”

With a polite nod, Shepard stood up and made his way towards the door before The Illusive Man stopped him.

“And Shepard, one more thing. This is even more unknown than the Collectors. You may be surprised to hear any concern from me, but be careful.”

Before the commander could respond, The Illusive Man cut the feed, turned his chair to face the burning star and in the first time in many years, he was confused.

\-------

“EDI, tell Garrus, Grunt, and Mordin to meet me in the cockpit for the mission debriefing. And tell them to be quiet about,” He asked his ship’s AI.

“Understood Commander,” The AI responded.

Shepard then turned his attention to the ship’s pilot, “Joker? Do you have the coordinates of our new destination?”

“Aye aye sir, EDI already forward them to me. Set the course before you finished taking with the boss. By the way, Aeia seems to have a lot of Eclipse activity.”

“So? What's your point.”

“My point is that the last time we encountered the Eclipse they ambushed you and the ground and I had to save your asses. And what do I get in return? You telling me my jokes are bad! My jokes are always great, Shepard,” Joker retorted

“Laugh it up Joker, because you may have to do it again considering the amount of activity there,” Shepard chuckled, “Get us to Aeia quickly and quietly, and I will make sure you get that heated seat upgrade you’ve been bitching about for the past three weeks. I don’t want the Alliance to know we were even here.”

“Really? Wow, I’m actually excited about this one. You’ve got yourself a deal sir!”

\-------

Inside the Kodiak was quiet and uncomfortable. It was great for transporting troops, but not meeting the occupants requirements for comfort. Shepard silently observed the troops in the Kodiak. In front of him was Grunt, a tank-bred Krogan found on Kolus. After Blue Sun mercenaries killed his “father”, he decided to take the inactive Krogan onboard for future use. And it sure as hell paid off. Despite being young, he knew how to fight. 

Off to his left was Garrus Vakarian, an old Turian friend. He had recruited him back on Omega when he was looking for Archangel. Turns out that it was Garrus all along. He had been attacked by a Blue Sun gunship and suffered multiple wounds to the face and has the scars to prove it.

Sitting next to the window was Mordin Solus, a Salarian scientist that had also been recruited back on Omega. The professor would ramble on about any topic like a teenage girl that had one to many energy drinks. Right now he was currently going over the Alliance data that The Illusive Man had intercepted. They knew it wouldn’t last, but enjoyed the peace and quiet nonetheless. And how quickly those minutes can fly…

“Shepard! Readings from anomaly off the charts! Power signature suggest new element zero. Only known power supply to generate in given area. Lack of element zero readings prove very interesting. Excited to see what we find,” Mordin didn’t bother looking up from his omni-tool, “Could be new source of energy, could be harnessed. Or could kill us. Outcome unknown”

“Relax Mordin, The Illusive Man intercepted the Alliance patrol data three hours ago. There as been no new activity in the area. If all goes well, we’ll land, walk around, and find some useless anomaly we don’t have to look at twice,” Shepard stated firmly

“Uh, I hate this ‘walking around’ you small aliens seem to enjoy so much. Find us a worthy opponent to fight Shepard,” The teams Krogan complained.

“Relax big guy,” Garrus said, trying to calm the Krogan down, “We just left Horizon and you already want more enemies to kill? I wouldn’t want to get on your bad side.”

Shepard was about to cut into the conversation, when the Kodiaks VI came alive.

“Approaching site in 90 seconds,” It stated for the ground team.

“Alright. Everybody prepare for a combat landing,” Shepard said as he stood up.

Garrus chambered a thermal round into his sniper rifle, Mordin loaded a thermal clip into his pistol, and Grunt pumped his shotgun as they waited to land. It was quiet for a little until the VI spoke again.

“Warning: radar detects several hostiles and large amount of debris in area.”

“Ha! Looks like we get to kill something after all. Hope these vermin are skilled fighters,” Grunt cheered enthusiastically.

“As soon as we land, I want everyone to find cover and have your weapons ready incase the Eclipse decide to roll out the welcome carpet for us,” Shepard ordered.

The Kodiaks speed decreased as it prepared to land. The inside of the cabin jolted as they touched down and when the bay door opened, the ground team rushed out and found cover behind debris. Shepard glanced out at the clearing and noticing lots of dead Eclipse mercenaries on the ground and several destroyed Eclipse dropships. He then signaled the ground team to advance. As they made their way through the clearing they couldn’t help but notice the destruction around them.

“Mordin, could it be possible for an energy spike to do ‘this’,” Shepard asked the salarian scientist as he gestured to the damage around them.

“Unknown, don’t have enough data,” He responded as he scanned the corpses, “All corpses shows signs of weapon fire.”

“Whatever did this must be an extremely skilled warrior, I can’t wait to meet him,” Grunt grinned at all the carnage around him.

“Whatever did this must be hostile and extremely dangerous,” Garrus added looking around, “We should be cautious about this Shepard.”

He nodded, knowing Garrus was right. He resumed walking and the ground team followed in suit. They had not gone five meters when an Asari stumbled out of the jungle wearing broken Eclipse armor; all weapons were trained on her and she threw her hands up as a gesture of surrendering.

“P-Please don’t kill me,” She stammered, sounding very scared.

“What happened here?” Shepard demanded.

“I-I don’t know,” The Asari responded, “I was on a dropship filled with reinforcements that the scout team had urgently requested, only to find them dead.”

“We went out into the jungle in hopes of finding whoever killed are comrades, only to walk into an ambush. We tried to escape, but that thing blew up our ship.”

“We called for reinforcements; some of us staying here, some of us going out into the jungle. A survivor came back here and told us two squads were taken down in a matter of seconds, by one… guy.”

Shepard glanced at his team; Garrus had a nervous look on his face and was looking around if they were being watched, Mordin had an intrigued look, fascinated by the story the Asari was telling, and Grunt, well, had a grin so large it stretched from ear to ear. The Eclipse mercenary continued.

“Not long after he came back, this ‘ghost’ came and started to kill us quickly and efficiently. I barely escaped into the jungle with my life.”

“Is this all you know,” Shepard asked, not wanting to miss a detail.

“Yes,” She squeaked, “That’s all I know, now will you let me go?”

Shepard ignored her, “Mordin, give her a sedative. We’ll leave her for the Alliance to pick up.”

“WHAT?!” The Asari cried out, before Mordin ejected her with a sedative, rendering her unconscious.

“Shepard, I think we should leave,” The Turian said, stating his concern over the situation.

“Are you kidding?! I want to meet this ‘ghost’, he will be a worth adviscary,” Grunt voiced his opinion.

“Let's get back to the Kodiak while we still can and get the hell out of here,” Shepard said, siding with Garrus. They were about to leave when something opened fire on them, forcing them to hide behind a piece of debris.

“Single shooter!” Garrus called out. Whatever had been firing at them stopped, probably to reload. Before they could return fire, a figure slide past their cover and, with lightning precision, shot their guns.

It was right there that Shepard got a good look at the ‘ghost’ that decimated the Eclipse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I see you've found my cliff hanger. As a recap, Shepard and his team landed on a planet to investigate an energy source only to find a platoon of decimated Eclipse mercenaries and are now face-to-face with a cold hearted mercenary that's not from around here. Till next time, GhostKiller


	3. Recruiting The Pilot And The Titan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Commander Shepard finally meets the most bad ass villain (In my opinion) in video game history

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The information on Viper in this and the coming chapters are mostly made up as there is not much info on him. I do not own Mass Effect or Titanfall, only the material I create and my OC

Chapter 3: Recruiting The Pilot And The Titan

 

It was right there that Shepard got a good look at the ‘ghost’ that decimated the Eclipse mercenaries. It was human, Shepard noted that it had five fingers, was wearing what looked to be like a orange pilot jumpsuit that was littered with equipment and several wires. It was wearing a helmet with a wider view than his, but was not see through; instead it had a blood red visor that appear to be lit up, he also notice the extra armor plating in the forehead and what appeared to be a golden V inside a larger golden V that lost its bottom half as it met the bottom of the armor plating. When the figure stood up, Shepard was surprised to see that he was taller than the figure, he looked to be roughly 5’ 11” if he was guessing. Shepard saw what look like a jet pack that was attached to the back of the person’s waistline. The guns are what confused the commander the most, the person had attached to his back what looked like a tan sniper rifle and a white-and-orange assault rifle with the barrels pointing up.The pistol it was using had a blue hologram around the sights of the pistol and had four red dots in the center of it; Shepard assumed it had auto-targeting software. The last thing he noticed was a card on the left side of a rectangular sack on its abdomen, it was a white ram skull with a black outline, had four fangs, a red background behind the skull. All things considered, it was pretty intimidating.

“Identify yourself,” The person asked Shepard with a husky, medium monotone male voice, his tone sounding calm and professional.

Shepard cleared his throat, “I am Commander Shepard of the Normandy SR2. Now who are-”

“I’m the one who's asking the questions,” He interrupted, he then turn his head to the rest of the ground team, “Who are they?”

“The Turian is Garrus Vakarian, the Salarian is Mordin Solus, and the Krogan is Grunt,” Shepard told the figure as he pointed to them.

The person tilted his head, “What are Turians, Salarians, and Krogans?”

“You’ve never seen any one of them?” Shepard ask, baffled at hearing this.

He shook his head, “Never seen one in my life. Funny, considering we’ve colonized most of the Frontier."

This got Shepard worried as he exchanged glances with the ground team equally worried, save for Grunt who was confused.

“What year do you think it is?”

“2286... Why?”

Shepard took a breath, knowing it wasn’t going to be easy braking this to him, “2286 isn’t for another 100 years.”

“What?!” He cried, lowering his weapon.

“And you say humans have colonized most of the Frontier during 2286?”

“Yes, are you suggesting that I’m from a different dimension?” He asked, folding his arms.

Shepard turned to the salarian, “Maybe. Mordin what do his readings say?”

Mordin pulled out his omni-tool and typed in various commands.

“Interesting, no trace of element zero, unknown energy signature surrounding him, believe he’s the energy spike,” The scientist stated as he continued to look at the data on his omni-tool, “Hm, appears to have been born in the year 2261.”

“Well, it appears you are from another dimension,” Shepard concluded.

The person holstered his pistol, “Alright. I assume you have questions for me?”

“Yes; first off, what is your name,”  Shepard asked, a little surprised at how well he was reacting to this.

“2nd lieutenant Viper,” He said with a salute.

“Is Viper your real name,” Garrus asked, with the Turian equivalent of a eyebrow raise.

“No, Viper is my code name. I prefer to keep my real name to myself.”

“Understandable,” Shepard stated, “What’s your age?”

“I’m 25.”

"Hm, truly troubling that a young individual possess skill of a battle harden soldier, would like to run psychoanalysis," Mordin said, adopting a thinking pose.

Viper stares at the salarian for a bit before turning to the rest of the group, "Is he always like that?"

"You get used to it after awhile," Garrus shrugged.

“Alright, next question: what is your field of experience?”

“I’m a pilot,” Viper stated as if it had some importance.

“You fly ships,” Grunt asked, sounding not very impressed.

“No, but my call sign is Voodoo 1; where I come from, a pilot is a super soldier, capable of taking out an entire platoon of men in a matter of seconds,” He explain.

This peaked Shepard’s interest. One man capable of wiping out an entire platoon in a couple of seconds? This was someone who he needed on his team to fight the Collectors.

“Alright lieutenant, I have one more question for you,” Shepard said, “How would like to join my team and stop an alien race called the Collectors that have been harvesting humans?”

“Unless your paying, then yes,” Viper said.

“Your a mercenary,” Garrus asked, a little surprised.

“Of the Apex Predators,” He stated proudly, until he notice the raised eyebrows.

“The Apex Predators are a group of highly skilled pilot mercenaries that will do anything for a paycheck; regardless of moral background.”

This made Shepard, Garrus, and Mordin uneasy, but that still didn’t change Shepard's decision.

“Alright, how much,” He asked.

Viper thought for a moment, “Does this galaxy use credits?”

“Yes.”

“Then I want ten million credits after we complete your mission.”

Shepard winced inwards. That was a lot of money, but he couldn’t afford to lose a soldier his caliber.

“Alright, Viper. Welcome aboard,” Shepard stuck out his hand, which Viper shook firmly.

“Alright, let's make our way back to the Kodiak.”

“Wait,” Viper stopped the commander.

“Yes, lieutenant?”

“How tall is the Normandy’s hangar?”

Shepard frowned. Why would he ask this.

“Over six meters. Why?”

“I needed to know if your hangar would be able to fit my Titan.”

“Your Titan,” Grunt asked.

Responding to Grunt’s question, Viper hit a button his wrist and a faint ‘Follow mode, engaged’ could be heard. The team then felt the ground shake and mechanical whirring sound came from the trees behind Viper. Suddenly, what looked to be a large geth walked out of the trees. It had a round body with a circle with a slit run up-and-down in the middle-top of the body. It had, what Shepard assumed were missile pods protruding from the back and were above what was the equivalent of shoulders for it. Shepard noticed it had four fingers (One thumb, three fingers) on its hand. It also had three jointed legs, the same ram skull and red background as Vipers, red accents, and four cylinders on its back. He also notice the GIANT gun it had resting on its left shoulder! It was easily two stories tall!

“Commander, this is VD, my titan,” Viper introduced them to the giant machine, “VD, this Commander Shepard and will be our new employer.”

“GREETINGS, COMMANDER SHEPARD,” It spoke with a soft electronic female voice, “I AM VD-6834, NORTHSTAR-CLASS TITAN. YOU MAY CALL ME VD. I THANK YOU FOR RESCUING MY PILOT.”

Shepard, Garrus, Mordin, even Grunt stood there silent, petrified by fear. They stood silent until Garrus broke the silence, “Eh… um…”

“What, you’ve never seen a Titan before?” Viper asked, glancing from VD to the ground team.

“No, synthetics are outlawed in this galaxy,” Shepard explained, not talking his eyes of the so called ‘titan’.

“Synthetics?”

“Robots with intelligence,” Shepard best described what a synthetic is.

“VD isn’t a robot, she’s a mech; VD pop the hatch,” Viper instructed.

VD stored her gun on her back, crouched down, and opened her hatch which surprised Shepard and his team. Viper walked up and jumped (with the help of his jump kit) into the cockpit.

“While VD is an AI, I still control her,” Viper told Shepard as VD stood up, but not closing the hatch.

“What makes you say that,” Garrus asked nervously.

Viper stood up, walked out of VD, and stuck the landing like it was nothing.

“VD, run through your protocols,” He instructed as she closed the hatch.

“OF COURSE PILOT,” VD responded, “PROTOCOL 1: LINK TO PILOT; I AM CURRENTLY LINKED TO 2ND LIEUTENANT VIPER OF THE APEX PREDATORS.”

“PROTOCOL 2: UPHOLD THE MISSION; I AM TO UPHOLD ANY MISSION PARAMETERS I AM GIVEN; MY CURRENT MISSION IS TO STOP THE COLLECTORS FROM HARVESTING HUMANS.”

“PROTOCOL 3: PROTECT THE PILOT; I AM TO PROTECT MY PILOT TO REMAIN FUNCTIONAL.”

“Remain functional,” Mordin asked, joining the conversation, “Do explain.”

“A TITAN MUST BE LINKED TO A PILOT IN ORDER TO OPERATE. IF THE PILOT WERE TO DIE, THEN THE TITAN CAN NOT OPERATE.”

“Those three protocols is what prevents a titan from turning on its allies and its pilot,” Viper finished.

“So how do you control ‘her’,” Garrus asked skeptically.

“A pilot and titan have neural link, which means we have a bond on a subconscious level. Titans are to act as an extension of the human body when operated by a pilot,”  He explained to the former C-Sec officer.

Shepard had an idea, “If you promise that VD won’t kill anyone on the Normandy, I’ll call it down.”

Viper raised his right hand as if he was repeating an oath, “Promise.”

“Alright.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back, if you have better ways to describe Viper's voice please leave it in the comments down below. School is tomorrow so new chapters are going to be rare. So till next time, GhostKiller


	4. My Diagnosis, Doctor?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard gets a good look at Viper's medical background.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The information regarding Viper and Pilots is not entirely canon. Link for the video will be below. I do not own Mass Effect or Titanfall, only the material I create and my OC

Chapter 4: My Diagnosis, Doctor?

 

It took a little convincing to get Joker to bring the Normandy down, but they manage to get VD in a secluded spot of the Normandy hangar where no one would find her. Shepard had finished filling out a report for The Illusive Man, explaining that they picked up a mercenary and was demanding ten million credits when the mission was over, The Illusive Man’s response was less than nice but complied when he learned about Viper’s skills. The Commander decided to visit Kelly as he remembers her saying ‘It would be exciting to talk to a human from another dimension’. As soon as Shepard stepped into CIC, he immediately made his way to Kelly, who was next to the galaxy map.

“Mornin’ Kelly,” Shepard greeted.

“Good morning, Shepard,” She greeted back, still facing the console.

Thinking she hadn’t talked to their newest edition yet, he turned to leave but was stopped when Kelly turned and faced him.

“I just finished chatting with our new friend Viper, or whatever counts as a chat with him,” She finished with a shrug.

This got Shepard worried, “Why, did he threaten you?”

“He didn’t threaten me, but it’s the way he talks and how he positions himself,” The Yeoman explained.

“Could you go into detail on what you mean,” He asked.

“When he talks, he is completely monotone that I couldn’t find any trace of emotion, and only professional killers are capable of devoiding themselves of emotion,” She told him.

“Well, he is a mercenary,” Shepard reminded her.

“Right, but mercenaries give off some emotion and that brings me to his body posture, which is like trying to read a stone wall.”

“He said pilots were super soldiers, so I assume he may have been part of a Special Ops group before he became a mercenary,” The Commander guessed.

“And when he walks, he looks like he is ready to kill someone when given the word,” She told him.

Shepard decided to change the topic, “What is his personality like?”

“Where do I even start,” Kelly exasperated.

“Why do you say that,” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“He is _very_ antisocial, is sadistic, and shows a few sociopathic traits like precise calculations and reckless risk-taking just to name a few,” She listed off.

“In other words, he’s a ticking time bomb waiting to go off,” Shepard summarized.

“Yes and it appears he doesn’t like talking about his past,” She added, “Because during our session, I asked Viper if there was something that happened to him in his past that made him who he is today, he just stared at me for a minute then, just stood up and left without a word. Personally, if you ask me, I think something happened to him.”

Before Shepard could interject, EDI’s blue sphere popped up on the terminal next to them.

“Commander Shepard, Dr. Chakwas is requesting your presence in the medical bay.”

“Tell her I’ll be down in a minute,” The Commander told the AI.

“Understood,” EDI said as she alerted the doctor.

Shepard headed to the elevator and hit the Third Deck button and awaited the painfully slow descent. When the elevator finally reached Third Deck, Shepard walked through the mess hall toward the med bay. As soon as he entered, he was immediately greeted by an ecstatic yet troubled Chakwas.

“Shepard, thank goodness you are here,” The doctor said as she lead him to her desk.

“Where’s Viper, I thought he was getting a medical examination,” He asked, looking around.

“He finished up about 20 minutes ago,” Chakwas told him, “But his examination is the reason you are down here.”

She typed some commands into her computer and pulled up a magnified image of red blood cells.

“What am I looking at Chakwas,” Shepard asked patiently.

“That is Viper’s blood at 1000 times normal magnification,” She explained, “When I first looked at it, I saw something about the size of a platelet float by so I increased the magnification.”

Chakwas typed in a command in her omni-tool and the image zoomed in and not only did it show red blood cells, but tiny pieces of round metal with small cylinders around it.

“This is his blood 100,000 times normal magnification,” Chakwas told Shepard, hoping he would understand where this was going.

“Cut to the chase Chakwas, what are those,” He sighed, tired of beating around the bush.

“Shepard… he has nanites in his blood,” She said, baffled that he didn’t figure it out.

“Aren’t nanites illegal, and what function do they perform,” Shepard asked, bewildered.

“Yes, nanites are illegal, but I assume that Viper’s reality has mastered creating synthetics in order for nanites to be in his blood,” The doctor hypothesized.

“And as for their function,” She continued, “I have several theories, one of them obviously for healing wounds at fast rates, another is that they cover his bones to make them near unbreakable."

"Another one is that it the nanites act as an artificial adrenaline, pulling all his muscles at once which increasing his strength to the point were he could easily bench press over 5,000 pounds. He could kill a Geth Prime with a single punch. This would tear a normal mans muscles but I believe that the nanites would prevent that."

"Now all of this requires a large amount of oxygen for the body, but this is where another of my theories come in. The nanites increase the function of the circulatory system, allowing the heart to pump harder than before without the risk of hemorrhaging. The nanites also increase the carrying capacity of oxygen, whether through affecting the hemoglobin or the red blood cells themselves, I do not know." 

"Is it possible that his nanites preform all these functions?" He inquired.

"It's most likely possible, yes," Chakwas agreed, "Now take a look at this."

She typed something into her omni-tool, replacing the magnified image of Viper's blood with what looked like DNA.

"This is an average humans DNA, you and me for example. And this," She typed in another command, "Is Viper's DNA."

The DNA now revealed to be Viper's DNA looked different than a regular humans DNA, it had the same structure as a regular DNA but with added circles on the outside of it and if one looked closely enough, they would see that parts of his base pairs were different than a regular set of base pairs. Needless to say, Shepard was shocked.

"Chakwas, what's with his DNA?" The baffled commander asked.

"Well, it appears that Viper is half dextro-protein," The doctor summarized, "And after analyzing it, it appears that it's the DNA of a Quarian."

"Did the nanites do this?"

"No. Someone did this to him, either as a volunteer or was forced to do it, Viper is the only one who knows the answer."

"Send this information to Mordin, right now lets keep it between the three of us, we don't need Cerberus finding out," Shepard told her. Getting a nod out of her, he left the med bay, his mind still wondering about the enigmatic mercenary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everybody! Guess who's back! I am terribly sorry I have not been updating, but school has been a bitch (pardon my french). I will try to update as much as much as possible during break. Till next time, GhostKiller
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toIjRQ2z1lA


	5. The Citadel: Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viper is introduced to the biggest space station he has ever seen, the Citadel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Mass Effect or Titanfall, only the material I create and my OC

Chapter 5: The Citadel: Part 1

Viper was currently laying on a couch in his quarters on the 3rd deck. He didn’t have a bed or any other furniture, so he would have to sleep on the couch for now. Viper was fiddling around on his new omni-tool the commander had given him. It also doubles as a forked blade since he was classified as an Infiltrator, which fit him perfectly. He was scrolling through the ‘extranet’, this dimension’s version of the internet, learning about the galaxy he was in. He then decide to stroll on down to the armory and check up on Jacob Taylor. When he got on board the Normandy, Viper had insisted that Taylor put mass effect accelerators into his weapons, the latter saying if he did it would be illegal and the former saying he didn’t care. Jacob had also installed a shield system into his suit called a ‘Kinetic Barrier’ or something like that, but it will protect him from firearms, so that's a win in his book. He walked out into the mess hall and his auditory receptors picked up some conversation regarding himself.

‘ _That guy looks intimidating as hell!_ ’

‘ _Wouldn’t want to get on his bad side…_ ’

‘ _Is he going to take his helmet off? We’re not in a combat zone…_ ’

He chuckled to himself as he entered the elevator and hit the CIC button. After what felt like ten minutes the elevator arrived at CIC. After navigating around the main area, he entered the armory.

“Lieutenant, I suppose you’re here for your weapons,” Jacob said as he looked up from modifying Viper’s guns.

“How'd you guess,” The mercenary deadpanned.

Jacob smirked, “Well, I just finished with your pistol; I gotta admit, that one was a lot harder than I thought. Other than that, your weapons are good to go.”

He handed the pistol and the other two rifles over to Viper, who holstered his guns and gave a polite nod. Before he could leave, he was interrupted by the sound of Shepard’s voice over the ships internal speakers.

“Jacob, its Shepard. We’re about to hit the relay to take us into the Citadel. I think now might be a good time for our newest team member to make his way towards to bridge. I’m sure he will be more than happy to see a mass relay in action.”

“You heard the boss, Viper. Better get up to the bridge. Brace yourself for the helmsman, Joker. He's always ornery and doesn’t hesitates to throw puns at anyone,” Jacob warned.

“Thanks for the help and heads up, Jacob. I look forward to some action soon,” Viper said as he left the armory and made his way towards the cockpit. When he enters the cockpit Viper found that Garrus was here, likely to see his reaction. The other person, he guessed that was Joker, had a scraggly beard and was wearing a cap that had SR2 on it.

“Viper, it’s good to see you. Hopefully that little trouble towards your AI doesn’t change your impression about me. I’m glad to have you on the team even if you can only do even half the things Shepard told me about you,” Garrus extended his hand which Viper shook. He had met with Shepard in his cabin earlier to talk about his skills, training, equipment, and his galaxy, “Anyways Viper… wait, is that what you want us to call you? I’m fine with that, but seems like you would rather use your name…”

“Don’t worry Vakarian. I’ve used that code name for five years now. If Viper gets old for you, you can always call me Voodoo 1 or lieutenant.”

Garrus shrugged, realizing that the mercenary wasn’t going to tell him anymore, “Works for me. Back to the reason I’m here; Shepard has some business to take care with Councilor Anderson. In the meantime, I’ll show you around the Citadel and how things run around there. We should only spend a few hours there, but since you’re not registered in the Council systems, I don’t recommend carrying a gun around, not even a sidearm.”

Before Garrus could say anything else, former Alliance Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau interrupted him, “Hey Viper, if you’re tired of listening to our resident hot head, were about to hit the relay that will take us into the Citadel. It’ll give you a chance to see how we get around all futuristic like in our galaxy.”

The hot head in question was about to snap back at Joker, but realized it would only give the pilot more ammunition. He looked at Viper and nodded for him to look out the window. Walking up to a view port, the Pilot could barely believe what he was looking at. Right in front of the Normandy was a massive object; it looked kind of like a smooth tuning fork to him. In the center of the object was a massive blue ball energy, with two rings swiftly circling it constantly. The Normandy flew alongside the relay and was suddenly enveloped in a bright white and blue cloud, and even through the emptiness of space, the lieutenant could've sworn he heard the crack of electricity. Just as soon had the Normandy flown alongside the relay, they were now in a nebula, a mix of purple and white all around them. That's when Viper got his first look at the Citadel. Since he had never seen anything this big, this was by far the largest space station he had ever seen. If you could really call it that.  
  
"That thing is massive! It isn't even a space station, it-it’s a goddamn city…" Viper breathed, still completely taken back by the sight before him. The five ward arms each boasting their own metropolis, all connected to the Presidium ring. Whoever built this must be advanced. More advanced than the Arkanians.  
  
"I'm guessing you don't build things like this where you're from, do you?" Garrus asked, and he couldn't keep the smirk off his face while he said it.  
  
"Not even close, the biggest space station the IMC ever built is only a tenth of the size of the Citadel,” Viper said, still impressed by the Citadel, and a little ashamed that his galaxy couldn’t do more.  
  
"Well, we didn't build the Citadel, we just found it. The Reapers built it, but most people in the galaxy think the Protheans did. I'll tell you more about it sometime over a drink. But it sounds like we have a lot to share, you know, since you're stuck here anyways."  
  
Viper smiled under his helmet at the friendliness and humor from his new Turian squad mate, but quickly became more solemn as the reality sank in when he hears someone else say he was stuck there.  
  
“I guess if I'm stuck here, I might as well have some fun. Speaking of drinks, you got bars on this station of yours, Garrus?"  
  
"Are you kidding me, Pilot? This station has some of the best booze you can ever hope to get your hands on! Like I said before, though, we don't have more than a few hours. We need to get you some new equipment first. But I'll tell you what; once we get your stuff, we can swing by one of the convenience shops and pick up some drinks to bring back on the Normandy. The rest of the crew would be happy to have it, too. Oh, and just so you know: Turian physiology is a little different from humans and most of the other races." Garrus explained.  
  
"Just a little different, you walking bird?" Viper mocked, doing his signature hands-on-his-hips.  
  
"Very funny Viper. I mean life on our home planet is built on dextro-amino acids. We can't eat the same thing you humans can, and vice versa. You try and drink some of the beer I bring back on the ship, and you'll have your face in the toilet even faster than you could if you were trying. Don't worry though; all food sold on the Citadel is clearly labeled for what races can consume them. And I'll be with you to keep you company."  
  
"Hey, if you're finished Garrus, we just docked with the Citadel. You can go now. Have fun trying to instate that six-foot sociopath into the systems at C-Sec. I hope you still have some friends on the inside." Joker interrupted, even more agitated than usual. Maybe he was jealous that he didn't get any time for shore leave like the rest of the crew.

“Don’t worry Joker, VD will keep you company while we’re gone,” Viper reassured the Normandy pilot, god this was going to be confusing with two different pilots aboard to him.

“Great, I get to hang out with the GIANT murderous synthetic that's in the hanger, while you guys are on shore leave,” Joker exasperated, earning a chuckle out of Garrus and Viper.    
  
"Alright Viper, we might as well get a head start on Shepard. He won't be with Anderson long. I have a feeling we're going to have some trouble getting you in anyways…" Garrus looked down at the walkway and shook his head as the two walked into the decontamination chamber.  
  
' _This is going to be a mess with C-Sec_ ,' the Turian thought to himself as they walked onto the Citadel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm back! Sorry I didn't update more over Thanksgiving, but I had family come over. So, I was thinking adding music to my story, but I want your opinion on it, so please R&R (Read and Respond, not Rest and Recuperation). Till next time, GhostKiller

**Author's Note:**

> I am new to Archive of our Own, so forgive me for the short chapter. I will try to make new chapters as soon as possible, but since I am in school it may take awhile


End file.
